The Army is facing a recruitment crisis after a cost-cutting outsourcing deal
resulted in the number of people joining up falling by more than a third.

The Government’s 10-year, £440 million deal to privatise recruitment was supposed to save £300 million, but has resulted in a sharp drop in the number of recruits going through the system.

Figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph show that the number of people attending Army interviews and selection tests to be regular soldiers has fallen by 35 per cent since Capita, the services company, took charge of hiring.

The situation is more severe for would-be officers, with the numbers down by almost half.

Defence cuts have added to the problem by giving the impression that the Army is no longer looking to sign people up, senior officers complain.

The Ministry of Defence’s latest manning figures show the Army is already 3,660 soldiers short.

Labour on Sunday night said the Capita contract was in chaos and warned it was undermining the strength of the Army. Former commanders warned the shortfall in men would make operations more dangerous.

Capita was put in charge of advertising, marketing and handling application forms in March.

Undermanned regiments complain computer glitches mean would-be recruits are struggling with an online application system and forms are being lost or delayed.

One senior infantry regiment source said: “What this has done is completely erode an effective system. Although it delivers savings, it doesn’t deliver a result.”

Another officer involved in selecting recruits said: “Between March and now we have had hardly anyone coming through. It’s less than half what it was last year.

“There’s a big lack of knowledge about how many people are in the system and where they are in the process.”

In the first four months of the Capita contract 3,259 hopefuls attended Army selection and interview days, compared with 5,042 the previous year, according to figures obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request.

For officers, the decline was steeper, with only 195 being sent for selection interviews, compared with 379 the year before.

The Government has announced it is cutting back the overall size of the Army from 100,000 to 82,000 by 2020, but must still recruit thousands each year to make up for annual turnover.

Both Capita and Ministry of Defence admit that there are computer teething problems, but said the contract had only just started and these would be solved.

Regiments blame an over-reliance on the internet and an online application system. They say potential young recruits, who used to be helped through the lengthy paperwork by experienced soldiers, are now struggling to fill in the forms themselves with the help of only a call centre.

A senior officer at one Guards regiment said: “Like all these things, it was supposed to save money. But using the internet is just not the same as having a man wearing the uniform of the regiment you want to join.”

Would-be soldiers have also complained that their applications are not being answered. The father of one hopeful told The Daily Telegraph his son had been waiting months without reply after his first application.

Kevan Jones, Shadow Armed Forces Minister, said: “The chaotic Capita contract is failing to meet targets and objectives and is undermining the strength of the British Army in the process.

Col Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said: “There’s no question it’s a crisis. We have got regiments deployed on operations and when you deploy under strength it creates a danger because you haven’t got enough people to do the work that needs to be done.”

In a joint statement, the Army and Capita said figures had risen in July after a slow start to the contract.

An Army spokeswoman said: “It is not surprising that as operations drawdown in Afghanistan and with reductions in the size of the Army, some people may have mistakenly believed the Army is not recruiting. It is inevitable that this would then impact on the number of potential soldiers attending assessment centres.

“We have only recently launched a significant Army recruitment drive so we would not expect this to have had an impact yet on the numbers attending assessment centres.”